Against the Light

October 28, 2013
This stately standalone from Eccles (After Clare) hinges on a long-buried secret from the Second Boer War. In rural 1927 Worcestershire, that conflict is nearly forgotten, although it’s recalled in the late Osbert Rees-Talbot’s unfinished memoirs. His grown daughter, Margaret, though stricken by the loss of her father, is planning her wedding to the Rev. Symon Scroope, who grew up on the nearby estate of Maxstead Court. The discovery of an unidentified man’s body in the snow on Maxstead land results in the brief, unwanted attention of the police. The subsequent death of factory owner Arthur Anton, who was Rees-Talbot’s batman during the Boer War, in the nearby village of Folbury brings Det. Insp. Herbert Reardon to town. The thoughtful, scarred Reardon eventually arrives at some answers, but flaccid characters and a slow-moving plot diminish the impact of these revelations.

September 15, 2016
Eccles' latest historical mystery is set in London in 1912, when tensions were high between those who favored the Irish Home Rule bill and those who strongly opposed Irish independence. Edmund Latimer, a cabinet minister, is in the thick of the debate, so he has little time to worry about his wife, Alice, who is caught up in her own life, being a practicing physician who loves her work and doesn't mind that Edmund is away much of the time. But tragedy strikes when the Latimer's infant niece, Lucy, is kidnapped. In what seems a totally unrelated case, DI Gaines and DS Inskip of Scotland Yard are investigating the murder of an unidentified man knifed in a taxi. But that case goes on the back burner when the coppers are assigned to Lucy's kidnapping. As they investigate, they begin to suspect the kidnapping may be linked to Latimer's political views. Eccles captures the ambience of early twentieth-century London and offers a whodunit full of intrigue, unexpected twists, colorful characters, and a surprising conclusion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2016
The Irish Home Rule Bill unnerves many politicians in 1912. But could it be a motive for murder?Although Dr. Alice Latimer and her MP husband, Edmund, have discussed asking Alices cousin Dudley to move on after an extended visit, Alice is surprised when she returns home from her work in the London slums to find their guest gone and their household reduced to Edmunds self-centered sister, Violet, her dapper husband, Ferdie, and their baby daughter, Lucy. When Lucy is kidnapped, everyone is frantic to help the police. DI Gaines and DS Inskip are already investigating the case of a man found in a taxi with his throat slit. Inskip is anxious to keep on the taxi case because one of the suspects is an Irishman he thinks drove his former sweetheart to suicide. Even after the family receives a crude ransom note asking for an outlandish sum of money, Gaines still thinks blackmail may be involved. When Lucy is unexpectedly returned unharmed, the family would prefer to forget the whole matter, but the police have other ideas, especially when they learn that the kidnapping might be tied to their murder case. The taxicab victim turns out to be Dudley, who's found to have been a rabid Irish nationalist. A good many scandalous revelations concerning the family emerge before the case can be closed.Eccles (Heirs and Assigns, 2015, etc.) starts out with a strong storyline and plenty of interesting characters, but her weak ending is a distinct letdown.

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

The Irish Home Rule Bill unnerves many politicians in 1912. But could it be a motive for murder?Although Dr. Alice Latimer and her MP husband, Edmund, have discussed asking Alice's cousin Dudley to move on after an extended visit, Alice is surprised when she returns home from her work in the London slums to find their guest gone and their household reduced to Edmund's self-centered sister, Violet, her dapper husband, Ferdie, and their baby daughter, Lucy. When Lucy is kidnapped, everyone is frantic to help the police. DI Gaines and DS Inskip are already investigating the case of a man found in a taxi with his throat slit. Inskip is anxious to keep on the taxi case because one of the suspects is an Irishman he thinks drove his former sweetheart to suicide. Even after the family receives a crude ransom note asking for an outlandish sum of money, Gaines still thinks blackmail may be involved. When Lucy is unexpectedly returned unharmed, the family would prefer to forget the whole matter, but the police have other ideas, especially when they learn that the kidnapping might be tied to their murder case. The taxicab victim turns out to be Dudley, who's found to have been a rabid Irish nationalist. A good many scandalous revelations concerning the family emerge before the case can be closed.Eccles (Heirs and Assigns, 2015, etc.) starts out with a strong storyline and plenty of interesting characters, but her weak ending is a distinct letdown. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 4, 2016
Set in April 1912, this socially illuminating standalone from Eccles (The Firebird’s Feather) focuses on Edmund Latimer, a wealthy MP and cabinet minister, and his physician wife, Alice. They have felt comfortable and protected in the large Regent’s Park home that they share with his sister, Violet; Violet’s husband, Ferdie; and the couple’s baby, Lucy; but they find themselves suddenly vulnerable. The touchy subject in Parliament is the Irish Home Rule question. Edmund is working long hours and showing the strain, while Alice is exposed to the Home Rule controversy through her work at the medical clinic. Activists and street gangs complicate an already tense situation that hits the family more personally with kidnapping, murder, and threats to their personal safety. Is it only the Irish situation causing the uncertainty and fear Alice feels? Or is it also her growing concern about her marriage and the family? Eccles’s usual strong sense of time and place, as well as the growing unease over political events, overshadow the less developed plot and characters.